The Revd Clive Hogger has been appointed as the next Archdeacon of Cornwall.

Clive, who is currently Associate Archdeacon in the Diocese of Sheffield, will be installed at a service in Truro Cathedral in early June 2024.

Clive’s arrival will see him bring a wealth of experience especially around the issues of stigmatised and impoverished people and mental health.

The Rt Revd Hugh Nelson, Acting Bishop of Truro, said: “We set a high bar for applicants for the next Archdeacon of Cornwall, and Clive sailed over it. His love of God, commitment to the church and its flourishing, and his strong sense of call to this role, along with the skills, gifts, and experience that he has gathered in life and ministry, make him a gift to us. I look forward to welcoming Clive and Ali to the diocese and to working for a fruitful and sustainable future with him.”

Joining Clive in his move to the diocese will be his wife Ali and their Labrador Teddy. Clive and Ali have three grown up children, Thomas, Jacob, and Iona. Ali is also ordained in the Church of England and is a lecturer and national safeguarding lead for St Mellitus College, a theological training college based in Plymouth, London, Chelmsford and Nottingham.

Clive said: “I’m truly excited to have sensed a call from God to come and serve with you in Cornwall, to discover the riches of your Celtic heritage and to participate in encouraging all the people of God to join in with God’s mission to the world. I look forward to getting to know you and journeying with you.”

Clive grew up in Hertfordshire in a village near Watford. After studying Philosophy at the University of Sheffield at the end of the 1980s and exploring esoteric and New Age thinking he, rather unsuccessfully, pursued a career as a nightclub DJ before moving to London in the mid ‘90s to train as a Registered Mental Health Nurse. While in London he met two very significant people; first he met his wife Ali who was also training to be a nurse, and second, he met Jesus and found a new meaning and purpose in life.

Having loved working with some of the most stigmatised and impoverished people in society in London, Birmingham and Coventry, God called Clive to move on from his nursing career in favour of ordained ministry, and following training in Cambridge he was ordained deacon in Coventry Cathedral in 2008 and priest a year later.

Clive served his curacy in Fletchamstead, Coventry, before becoming vicar of St Anne and All Saints in 2011, a city centre church serving a diverse and materially deprived neighbourhood. Clive also served as Area Dean for Coventry East Deanery from 2014, and after a pastoral scheme which involved joining with a neighbouring church, he became Rector of Coventry All Saints in 2016.

By August 2017 it became apparent that Clive had developed a rather niche interest in Canon Law, in the mechanics of ordering the church, as he seemed to delight in spending time reading obscure pieces of legislation and various synod reports, and it was fairly unsurprising when he was appointed Acting Archdeacon Pastor (Archdeacon of Coventry) until March 2018 when he was then appointed as Assistant Archdeacon in the same diocese, supporting parishes and people through many challenges and concerns. When that period of secondment came to a natural end in 2019 Clive returned to his parish where he led them through the trials and tribulations of building closures, socially distanced church, and online worship during the recent pandemic.

In 2021 Clive was appointed as Associate Archdeacon Transition Enabler in the Diocese of Sheffield, another diocese which, like Truro, is grasping some of the nettles of church life, and he played a significant part in helping that diocese to become both fruitful and sustainable by engaging with the need for change. In 2023 he graduated from Cardiff University with a Master’s degree in canon law.

Clive remains passionate about wellbeing and about serving the most marginalised members of the community, and he enjoys sea-swimming, walking, Belgian beer, and following Watford FC.